Kangaroos’ Cameron Zurhaar pays tribute to puppy after turnaround

Cameron Zurhaar went five games without a goal to start the season but he’s revealed the secret weapon which turned his season around.

Hugo has turned Cameron Zurhaar's season around.

North Melbourne has bounced to its third win of the season with a stunning 10.10 (70) to 8.12 (60) win over the West Coast Eagles in Perth.

The side pulled off the huge upset to pile more pressure on the Eagles after a third straight loss, as Cameron Zurhaar kicked 18 points in the match.

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While teammate Nick Larkey had the same number of points tallying three goals, Zurhaar was a but more wayward, scoring 2.6 for the match.

But it’s continued a massive turnaround for the season for the 23-year-old.

Zurhaar has been fairly accurate since round seven, after he went his first five games of the season without kicking a goal.

Since opening his account for the year, he’s kicked 22 goals for the year.

His issue for the day was he added six behinds, saying: “I couldn’t hit the side of a barn but it was one of the best wins I’ve ever played in.”.

It was a huge night for North.

Since the bye in round 12, the Kangaroos had a draw with GWS and have two wins and two losses.

It’s taken the side just two points behind the 17th placed Hawks as the club went to 3-12-1 after 16 rounds.

In that time, Zurhaar has kicked 12.13, more than half his tally for the season.

Jonathan Brown said since he opened his tally for the season, Zurhaar had been “one of the most dominant forwards in the competition”.

He said the secret was his new puppy Hugo.

“I’m just happier off-field to be honest,” he said. “A lot of it is off field and then on-field, I’ve simplified it.

“Nobes, we sat down seven weeks ago, I was having a real bad patch at the start of the year, and we took it back to basics.

“I’m just happier now, and I’ll have to give credit to my dog, which has made me happier and my footy has started to come together.”

Asked what type of dog he’s got, Zurhaar replied: “I just got a border collie, he keeps me on my toes.”

“You have a bad day, you come home and they’re smiling so you can’t really complain there,” he added.

"I owe a bit of credit to my dog" 👏

A wholesome AND hilarious post-match moment with Cam Zurhaar tonight 🤣

📝 MATCH REPORT: https://t.co/qb15Lt4TcA
🔢 MATCH CENTRE: https://t.co/Vwru5GDZdhpic.twitter.com/9f7kqgIE4J

— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) July 12, 2021

After the interview Fox Footy’s Kath Loughnan said: “There you go, if any player wants to hit a bit of form, go buy a dog.”

“Border collie sales would be through the roof,” Brown added. “Wouldn’t mind if you just dropped a couple of pups aye, going for about five grand a piece.”

Loughnan said: ‘That is not where I thought that interview was going to go.”

Zurhaar broke up with his girlfriend of nearly a year in February, with it becoming a messy split when she claimed he was already seeing other women just days after the break up.

Originally published as Kangaroos’ Cameron Zurhaar pays tribute to puppy after turnaround